I Didn’t See That Coming

Isaac and Rebekah have twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Isaac’s very old and blind. He calls Esau, the elder son, for the deathbed blessing to transmit the family’s leadership and possessions to Esau. Jacob tricks blind Isaac and receives the blessing…

Blind Isaac couldn’t see Jacob coming; Esau didn’t see Jacob’s deception coming.

In 1970 I was training to be a teacher; my first ‘teaching practice’ was in a small Derbyshire village. I’d planned a series of creative-writing lessons around Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Albatross’. I bought the vinyl single and took it into school. The first lesson went well.

I returned to school the next day. The village youth club had met in the school and the record was missing. The planned second lesson couldn’t happen.

I didn’t see the record’s theft coming.

Last week we stayed at the Golden Lion, Hunstanton. Our ‘superior room’ had a lovely sea view. We’d been for a windy walk along the prom and were tired. We soon fell asleep in the large four-poster bed.

At 2.00 a.m. a loud noise woke us up. The television had turned itself on at full volume. The room’s previous residents must have set an alarm on it for their successors’ ‘enjoyment’. When we signed in we didn’t see that coming!

…Scheming Jacob runs away from home, scared that once Isaac has died, Esau will kill him. Alone with his thoughts and fears… past deceptions, broken family, uncertain future… he lies down and sleeps.

He’s not awoken by a loud television but he does have a dream… a ‘stairway to heaven’. God’s at the top promising to be with him whatever happens.

He didn’t see that coming!

Musing… Surprises in my past… friends in situations they didn’t choose… the unexpected, unplanned, unwanted… I didn’t see that coming.

God’s promise to Jacob: ‘I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.’

Jacob’s response: ‘Surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware of it.’